How to: Spring-clean your tech toys

Are you and your iPod joined at the hip? Is your Blackberry as familiar a sight on the dinner table as the salt and pepper shakers? If so, chances are you’re a major technophile. We Canadians love our mp3 players, laptops, smart phones and PDAs. So much so that the idea of losing or damaging them … hurts.

So if you can’t imagine life – let alone a week – without your top tech toys, read on to learn how to properly care for these objects of affection. Clean and protect them and they’ll provide you with many faithful years of service – or at least until you upgrade them for something better!

Tech toy: iPhone How to care for it:• Protect the surface with a clear “skin” and carry it in a hard-body case.• Clean it with lint-free electronic wipes • Detail around the speaker and mic. Check that debris isn’t clogging the speaker or mic holes. If it is, use compressed air and/or the teensiest-tiniest amount of rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip (think damp: not wet!) to clear debris.

Avoid:• Keys! Even scratch-resistant screens are no match for keys in a purse or gym-bag pocket.• Leaving it in heat, direct sun and extreme cold. Don’t abandon your iPhone in your car!